A day of Peace Corps training

"What the people of the world want most and have always wanted...are bread and peace."--Patricia Young

Here is how a typical day of training goes for the Peace Corps in Suriname. I have come to realize that my day revolves around the ringing of a bell for food. My training ground is in a little Suriname city off a dirt road. We have several neighbors nearby and most are very friendly. I am rooming with a guy from Arizona, he goes by A.T.

7 am: Breakfast bell rings

So long as I do not sleep through my alarm, I wake up at 7, otherwise A.T. kicks me out of bed at 7:30. About 7 am, a man comes out of the kitchen to ring the first bell of the day, the breakfast bell. I head to the mess hall for a healthy portion of bananas and peanut butter on bread and possibly a bowl of corn flakes. After food, I go back to my room and proceed to get ready for training. It is usually about 80 degrees this early in the morning.

8 am: Morning(mamanten) Training begins

Morning sessions have consisted of several different activities. We usually start off with our community meetings and talking about what is on tap for the day and the coming weeks. Then, we break into our sessions where we have done self-assessments and language training. The language training, thus far, has been mostly Sranan Tongo. But now, I will be required to speak fluent Saramaccan as I will be working with this tribe along the Suriname river. One morning, our sessions were interrupted by a puppy who wandered into our meeting room. Wandering dogs on the grounds are very common but at least they are much nicer than those Naples dogs. By the end of morning training, the temperature is starting to reach 90 degrees and the humidity is starting to wear on us.

12 pm: Lunch bell rings

Lunch and dinner at our training grounds has been quite an experience. Most nights, we are things we have never seen before--local stews, roti and some ridiculously hot peppers. No, seriously, I had to take a shower after dinner one night because the peppers were SO hot! Rice appears to be the main staple of the local diet but I have enjoyed that so far. Most meals are usually accompanied with some type of meat and a third course. Besides eating, the rest of this hour is spent conversing with other volunteers, my newest friends.

1 pm: Afternoon(bakadina) training begins

In the afternoon, we have had a series of medical sessions on how to keep one's self safe and healthy in the interior, which plants and bugs to avoid, how to clean water and how to shit properly in a hole. After these sessions, we are either in meetings with our bosses or getting a couple of numerous vaccinations--my right arm was sore for two days after the yellow fever shot.

4:30-5 pm: Training ends

After training, there is a local soccer game we have been attending with the locals in the community. We found out about this by talking to a local while walking back from town. So far, we have played two games and we were able to beat the 12 year olds once--I do not think we are ready for the men's game yet. The soccer field itself is quite a site. It is surrounded on three sides by two houses and a long building and at the far end is surrounded by a thick wall of jungle. The main game is played on the sand field with 11 players on each side and usually has several spectators hanging out in the trees or on the benches around the field. The game is usually played in 85 degree weather.

6/7 pm: Dinner bell rings, I eat again!

7 pm - ?: Post training, the night(neti)

Most nights we have tried to get out on the town and do something or meet someone new. We have been out and about at a few local restaurants trying the local cuisine, hanging out at the local markets/shops, and making some new friends along the way. The internet cafe where I am at now, is also a very popular spot in the town and with new Peace Corps volunteers. We have also been able to meet up with some of the volunteers who came to Suriname last year and they have been a huge help for us. In town on our own, usually, Wednesday's Champion's League final is the hot topic of conversation. Unfortunately, most people in Suriname are rooting for Barcelona which makes me the outlier.

So far, my most favorite night was going to the city of Paramaribo for the first time. I got to see my first football(soccer) game in South America. The club champion's from Suriname played one of the club teams from the Netherlands. As we walked into the game, a Suriname marching band performed and they were awesome--they had style. During the game, the Suriname people were totally confused--they thought we were Dutch, and they could not figure out why we were rooting against the Netherlands team. The game was pretty exciting but ended in a 1-1 draw; Suriname almost scored in the injury time.

After the game, we came back to our training site and stayed up way too late, again, playing games, watching movies (Old School is the movie of choice) and just hanging around with one another. We have a great group this year and the next two years will be exciting.